In a statement provided to Techwire, FI$Cal, which was begun in 2005 to aggregate the state’s budgeting, cash management, accounting and procurement processes and replace legacy IT, said the agency “has always been delivering a quality information technology product” to the state; and has helped users “in managing the changes they are experiencing to their day to day business processes as they learn to use” FI$Cal. Among the takeaways:
• The LAO examined repeated changes to the project using special project reports (SPRs) 1-8. SPR8, the LAO wrote in its executive summary, removes “some activities and functions” from the project that will be done after it is “deemed ‘complete’” but increases the project cost by $150 million. The project’s total projected cost is now nearly $1.1 billion. Delaying the project’s end to July 2020 “muddles the determination as to when the project will actually be fully finished,” the LAO wrote, adding: “We find the revised project schedule risky and the planned list of remaining activities and functions until project completion (as redefined) to fall short.”
In its statement, FI$Cal endorsed the system’s capability and usage. “As of July 2019, we have delivered 93 percent of the system functionality. There are 152 departments and more than 18,000 end users processing $305 billion in expenditures each year using the FI$Cal system,” the agency said.
• The LAO also questioned FI$Cal’s support to departments that use its system to close year-end financial statements — pointing out “only 77 out of 152 (or 51 percent) departments using FI$Cal” were able by October to close financial statements for the previous fiscal year ending in June. Those 77 departments, the LAO said, “represent only a small fraction” of total departmental budget in FI$Cal — “$35 billion out of $295 billion (or 12 percent).” The Employment Development Department and the California Department of Education are among those that haven’t yet submitted 2018-2019 FY year-end financial statements, the LAO said.
FI$Cal said: “As a result of having the budget data centralized for the last four years for the first time, the enacted budget has the same level of detail as the Governor's proposed budget.”
“In addition, our transparency website, Open FI$Cal, allows the public to look at expenditure data for each department in the system,” FI$Cal added.
• Brian Metzker, senior fiscal and policy analyst at the LAO, told Techwire the agency is waiting for comment from FI$Cal on the report.
“When they come out with that, we’ll read that and we’ll try to have a conversation with them on their comments on our report,” Metzker said, indicating the LAO is open to briefing budget and policy committee consultants in the Legislature, should lawmakers express an interest in the report.
FI$Cal said: “We greatly value the feedback provided by the Legislative Analyst’s Office and take the concerns stated in the report seriously. We will continue to work with the team to address those concerns.”
• FI$Cal’s most recent Independent Project Oversight Report (IPOR) Rating from the California Department of Technology (CDT) also highlights the health of the overall project and its individual aspects, Metzker said, noting FI$Cal’s current overall project health is colored yellow, indicating “risks/issues exist.”
“I believe this is the November report, so there will be another report coming out in the middle of this month and that should reflect some of the report that we ... have issued,” Metzker said.
CDT reviews and approves IT project proposals from state departments and it provides project oversight for proposals that are approved.
